


Brotherly Fights

by onereyofstarlight



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Angst, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22446655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onereyofstarlight/pseuds/onereyofstarlight
Summary: Exhaustion and anger are rarely a good mix for the Tracy brothers.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	Brotherly Fights

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for minor physical violence, more serious than general rough and tumble but not enough to need a hospital shall we say?

It started on a rescue. Virgil was up in Thunderbird Two, holding her steady above the Amazon rainforest and waiting for the signal that John had found a stable place for her bulk to land without destabilising the loose earth below. They had been called to assist the evacuation of a small town, unreachable by way of roads for the simple reason that there were no roads leading to the municipality.

“Bet I get there faster,” Gordon’s voice crackled through the open comm.

“I’ll see you in the dust,” scoffed Alan from the other pod.

Virgil said nothing, adjusting his screens so he could kept an eye on their antics in addition to the shifting topology following the landslide that had levelled much of the town.

Their bickering faded into white noise as he ran another scan on the landscape below, hoping that he had just missed something.

“Thunderbird Two, we’re out of luck,” said John from a hologram to his right. “I suggest you fly over the township to deliver those supplies by–”

“Grow up, you two,” interrupted Scott, his voice cutting sharply through the open comm. Virgil glanced over towards the speaker in surprise. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see John doing the same. It wasn’t unusual for Scott to need to reign in the Terrible Two, but he rarely did so with such a cutting edge.

“If you get here and I find you’ve dragged half the rainforest with you, you’ll be scrubbing down the pods and _all_ their parts with a nailbrush.”

“Keep your hair on Scott, you want something left to dye in a couple of years,” sniped Gordon. Virgil frowned. His voice was coming through the comms okay but there was an odd static sound behind it.

“They’re hosing each other down,” said John, shaking his head slightly as a growl sounded through the comms. “You’d think Scott would be used to this by now.”

“He’s tired, they’re tired,” said Virgil. _I’m tired_ , he thought. “Add in a landslide and liaising an evacuation count of 450 people to a town a hundred kilometres away?”

“Fireworks,” said John with a grimace.

“And he doesn’t like leaving people behind,” said Virgil. “He’s worried about more ground movement.”

“Hmm,” said John.

As John ran through his suggestions for dropping the emergency supplies for those in the town being left behind, Virgil kept his mind on the task ahead. The evacuation, while complicated by the remote location, was not challenging work. He found himself listening to the open comms, noting the impatience and the snippiness displayed as his brothers coordinated together. The attitudes were contagious and it wasn’t long before Virgil was settling cranky patients, already exhausted from the transfer on board.

“Pod One, Two, watch yourselves,” he said with a frown, examining the geo-scans John had sent through earlier. “The rain is still coming down pretty heavily, take it slow.”

“Quicker we’re done, the quicker we go home,” crackled Alan’s reply. “We know what we’re doing.”

“You’re not on a joyride, Alan,” said Virgil with a scowl as the hologram showed their movement across the precarious ridge above the town. “This is their home. How would you feel getting out of hospital and finding your rescuers had triggered a landslide that had wiped out your home.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Alan. Virgil said nothing, merely noting that Alan had slowed down and that Gordon was following suit.

“You’d have thought he’s want those people to medical care ASAP,” muttered Gordon.

“Pod One, we can hear you,” said Scott’s voice sharply. “Thunderbird Two is right, slow it down.”

By the time Virgil had delivered his last round of evacuated patients, he’d had enough of the background chatter and opened a private channel as he flew back to the pick-up point.

“Can you let the GDF know that we’re going to pull ourselves out for a couple of days, John?” he asked. “Think it’s time to call it.”

“FAB,” said John. “I’ll join you tomorrow morning.”

Thunderbird Two shuddered slightly as he lowered the module, careful to leave a couple metres of space underneath. He felt the slight dip as Gordon and Alan climbed in with their pods and began to run through his final checks before leaving the area.

He heard his younger brothers before he saw them.

There was a scuffling sound as Alan shoved Gordon down and raced to sit in the seat next to Virgil, buckling in even as Gordon tried to drag him out of the chair.

“That’s _my_ seat,” said Gordon, kicking at Alan’s legs in frustration. “I’m the co-pilot, tell him Virgil.”

Virgil closed his eyes and grit his teeth together. “Alan, are you going to help me chart around the weather system developing in the South Pacific?”

Alan’s eyes widened. “Not today,” he said cheerfully and bolted out of the chair. “She’s all yours, Gordon.”

“Oh joy, thanks Alan,” Gordon grumbled, moving the chair closer to the projection screen.

“Not a problem, Gordo,” said Alan. “I think I’ll take a nap. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Aw, still just a baby, are you?”

“I’m not a baby!”

“Little Alan needs his nigh-nighs.”

“Virgil, tell him–”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

The two fell silent as their heads snapped around to look at their brother with wide eyes.

“Both of you just _shut up_ ,” Virgil continued. “You’ve been at this for fourteen hours and I am _not_ listening to it the entire flight home.”

He took a deep breath, trying to regain some perspective.

“Who up and pissed in your cornflakes?” said Gordon frankly, staring at Virgil incredulously.

“Excuse me?”

“We’re the ones who’ve been out in the rain for fourteen hours,” said Gordon. “Nice for some to be getting a break on the job.”

Virgil’s jaw dropped. His face felt hot and absently, he noted that his hands were shaking.

“A break?” he asked distantly. “Seriously Gordon, a _break_? Who just spent the rescue reassuring over four hundred patients, providing them with medical aid, launching food drops, unloading them at the other end, while piloting and monitoring your positions?”

“We didn’t ask you to monitor us, we know what we’re doing.”

“No you don’t!”

The words burst from Virgil’s lips and he savagely realised he meant them. Gordon flinched backwards and an ugly look settled on his features.

“If I hadn’t monitored you, you would have caused at least one more landslide, possibly two. You would have needlessly destroyed half the town and killed people because you wanted to do your job and have fun at the same time.”

“Virgil, we–”

“Alan, you’re as much to blame as _him_ ,” said Virgil, twisting in his seat to glare behind him. “Common sense may have skipped a son, but I know you have better judgement than what you showed today.”

Gordon let out a sound of outrage and suddenly Virgil found himself pushed onto the ground, Alan yelling and hauling Gordon backwards and the comms blaring as Scott and John both tried to reinstate order from afar.

Distantly, Virgil could feel Thunderbird Two rising beneath him. He picked himself off the floor and strode over to where Alan was holding his brother’s arms in an attempt to prevent further violence. Which was why Gordon had no way of stopping the blow as Virgil stood over him, a wave of fury coursing through his skull.

As his fist connected with his brother’s cheek, time seemed to crystallise around him. He stood there, almost comical in the way his fist was still raised, in a stunned silence broken only by the roar of Thunderbird Two’s engines.

“Gordon, I,” said Virgil, as Gordon and Alan looked up at him dumbfounded. The world seemed to rush back into him and the influx of colour and sound and burning hatred made him stagger backwards. “Gordon, I’m so sorry.”

“Save it,” said Gordon, eyes hard as he sneered at Virgil. He shook Alan off and stalked to the co-pilot seat.

“Virgil?” said John’s voice through the comms. “Virgil, you’re about to enter a cyclone, I can’t stay at the controls long.”

Virgil sat and stared past the information filtering through the screens.

“Course plotted, John,” muttered Gordon. “Release controls.”

***

Conversation was clipped and kept to the bare minimum for the remainder of the trip. Virgil could almost feel the sulk Alan was putting out into the universe and he could read the anger beneath Gordon’s cool professionalism as easily as he read the weather charts on Two’s holoscreens.

He killed the VTOL engines and said nothing as Thunderbird Two trundled back into the hanger. When she was lifted back onto her props and her steady rumble settled into a sigh, Virgil leapt out of his seat and left the cockpit without a second glance.

“What, no post flight checks?” called Gordon after him, the developing bruise on his face mocking Virgil as he strode away. The anger, which Virgil had so nearly talked himself out of, flared again bringing a roaring heat to his face.

“You do it,” he snarled, turning back. “You’re the damn co-pilot after all.”

***

It was hard to feel lonely when you shared a home with seven people unless you’d done everything in your power to push them away.

“Go away,” he said automatically as a shadow fell across his vision.

“Nah,” said Scott, settling himself down on the dark volcanic rocks. “You couldn’t have picked a more comfortable place to do this?”

“We’re not doing this at all.”

“Yeah, we are. If you really wanted to be alone, you wouldn’t be out here.” Scott hoisted himself a little higher, trying to find a position that didn’t dig into his skin. “You really don’t feel that?”

“Toughen up, Scott.”

“Come on, man,” said Scott. “So Gordon couldn’t keep his big mouth shut, what’s new there? You said it yourself, we’re all tired. What did you go and hit him for?”

Virgil humphed and dodged Scott’s outstretched hand.

Scott was quiet for a moment.

“You know what Mom would have said?”

“Scott, don’t,” said Virgil in a small voice.

Scott ignored him.

“She would have said it’s up to you to be the bigger person. Bigger brother, bigger heart, remember?”

“That’s not fair,” said Virgil, looking out at the ocean. “Don’t use her against me.”

“She was right.”

“I know,” snapped Virgil. “Don’t tell me that, I _know_.”

He sighed. “How is it that Gordon and Alan are the ones who started it, who mucked around the entire rescue, and I’m now the one sitting out here having to plan an apology?”

Scott chuckled. “You think John and I haven’t been there?”

“He’s never going to forgive me.”

“You’ve said that before.”

“I’ve never _hit_ him before. Not like that. I feel awful.”

Scott nodded. “Good. I’d be worried if you didn’t.”

“I wish I hadn’t said any of it,” said Virgil, miserably. “I knew they were just exhausted, I’d told John to make sure we all got a break after this.”

“You can’t take it back,” said Scott. “You can sit here for as long as you like, but sooner or later you’ll have to face him.”

“Later sounds good.”

“Virgil.”

He looked up at his brother, a mirror of his father and memories flooded back at the disappointed look Scott wore.

“I’m sorry I reacted the way I did, you don’t need to make me feel worse.”

“You just need to tell him that.”

“What if he doesn’t accept it.”

Scott shrugged. “That’ll be on Gordon. Don’t worry about him, you can’t control how he responds.”

He stood and stretched, brushing away at the tiny rocks embedded in his clothes. He reached a hand down to help Virgil up.

“Yeah, okay,” he said, taking the proffered hand. “And thanks Scott.”

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posted from Tumblr, originally posted on 16/1/20
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


End file.
